Now that we’re used to writing “2013” on our dates, it’s time for the February playlist for 2013. Nailed it. I found some pretty nice tracks this month, and it’s hard to classify them all into a single genre or a mood like I usually try to do. I’m just going to wing it this month...

On this day in 1918, a blues legend was born in Mississippi by the name of Elmore James. The illegitimate son of a 15 year old field hand, he grew up in impoverished Holmes County, Mississippi. He picked up the diddley bow (a one-stringed instrument often played in rural areas) at the age of 12,...

This weekend I revisited one of my favorite older films, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and was reminded how awesome that movie is. Paul Newman and Robert Redford depict a couple of aspiring wild West outlaw train and bank robbers. Eventually they rob the wrong train, and a majority of the movie consists of...

“Move, Eat, Learn” is a three-part film project by Rick Mereki where three guys spent 44 days in 11 countries doing just what the project suggests: moving, eating, and learning. Each film can stand alone, but as a trio, the films amass into a project that demonstrates the best way to live. The guys look...

We’re almost through the hottest part of the year, folks. August is done, and Fall is on the way. Let’s wind down a bit from the heat and ease our way into the cool days ahead of us. The following songs are great companions for doing just that, but still work well with the not-so-hot...

It is a union that suggests the essential mystery of the world. Art for me is not an end in itself, but a means of evoking that mystery. –René Magritte, on putting seemingly unrelated objects together in juxtaposition Born in 1898, René Magritte was one of the most well-known surrealist artists ever. His style consisted...

This stop-motion film by Kevin Parry is one of the coolest stop-motion films I’ve ever seen. Everything from the music to the tedious articulations of the characters is spot-on. Tim Burton called the film a “cross between 2001 [A Space Odyssey] and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer,” and in some weird way I think he’s right....

This 2009 film was created in 100 hours for a film competition, which it wound up winning. From the moment the work starts, it seems to haunt the viewer. The opening shot is excellent–a truck driving in a remote area, perhaps away from someone/something, or perhaps towards something else. The narration of the note, the...